


By Your Side

by takemyopenheart



Category: Open Heart (Visual Novels)
Genre: F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-02
Updated: 2020-11-02
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:21:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,156
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27350389
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/takemyopenheart/pseuds/takemyopenheart
Summary: Ethan and Luz have one final moment at Edenbrook. (Chapter 19 rewrite).
Relationships: Ethan Ramsey/Main Character (Open Heart), Ethan Ramsey/Original Female Character(s)
Kudos: 17





	By Your Side

**Author's Note:**

> Chapter 19 left me feeling frustrated, so I had to do a rewrite. It’s full of the fluff I so wish the writers incorporated this far into their relationship. The title comes from the song By Your Side by Sade. I was stuck on a title for the chapter when the song came to mind, and it simply reminds me of them. Hope you enjoy!

The last light switches off. In a matter of seconds they would be walking out of these doors and on to the next chapter in their lives. It had been a memorable last two years, to say the least.

“So. This is really it…” he hears her solemn voice in the darkness. Her brown eyes reflect the soft moonlight glowing through the windows.

The bittersweet pang hits him as they stand in the empty, dark atrium that once bustled with doctors and nurses who made it their mission to help the patients of this hospital in every way they were trained to do.

He and Luz were two of those doctors. And now they had to say goodbye. A goodbye to a hospital they at one point dreamed of working at. At the hospital they spent their daily lives doing what they loved doing best. The setting where they’d met some of the best people in their profession. The same hospital where the two joined hands had first met.

_“You. Rookie. Get in here.”_

_“Coming!”_

Those were their first words to each other. He remembers their first exchange and how she’d helped him with a patient who’d collapsed in the waiting room.

 _“Hey… you can do this,”_ he’d reassured the intern whose hand trembled during the emergency thoracotomy.

The intern he’d selected after seeing something special in her application. The same intern he’d end up falling in love with.

Little did he know when she suggested Chuckles Gum for his patient, and when she offered him the chocolate bar from the vending machine, that she’d end up turning his whole life around.

_“And who is that for?”_

_“You. Saw you kept staring at it earlier. You know, it’s okay to treat yourself sometimes.”_

_“…I’ll keep that in mind.”_

They had their ups and downs, but he grew closer to his mentee while training her to become the best doctor he knew she’d become.

_“Thanks for giving me the chance.”_

_“Hm. I would’ve expected you to be angry.”_

_“No. I appreciate your help. I’m never gonna learn if someone’s always holding my hand.”_

That woman would have him wrapped around her finger, would be the center of his dreams, his first thought waking up and last falling asleep.

Every memory rushes back. The night they looked over baby Ethan had been the turning point in their relationship. It was the night he first felt some comfort in those captivating brown eyes. He’d lost a dear friend, she‘d lost a patient, and they’d been there for each other.

_“Does it ever get easier?”_

_“Grieving a lost patient isn’t a weakness. Good doctors should value life. For itself.”_

It was the first time he’d opened up to her. And would slowly let her in before he realized there was no going back. He had fallen. Hard.

And of course when she’d learned the truth about Naveen, and how she went out of her way to help Ethan in any way she could until she found the cure to what had been ailing his dear mentor.

_“You’ll save him. I know you will.”_

_“How can you be so sure? I already failed him once.”_

_“Because you’re Ethan freaking Ramsey.”_

She was the source of many happy memories. And they would keep making them, that was his newfound mission.

How so much had changed within the span of two years. Deciding to work here was one of the greatest decisions of his life. Even if he could foresee the future of its closing doors, he’d do it all over again.

_“I can’t believe you just kissed me like that. In front of the entire hospital…”_

_“It just doesn’t feel like I need to pretend anymore.”_

Just feet away they’d shared a kiss in front of their colleagues. That was the day he’d claimed her as his—no longer did he care what anyone thought.

_“Can you imagine? Never being able to touch the person you care about most in the world? Could there be anything worse?”_

Baz’s words had echoed in his head. Of course he knew how a thought so dreadful felt like. Luz knew it too by the knowing look she gave him in that moment. The memory of almost losing her was too much. It’s one he never wants to relive. The question was haunting, and he would be thankful for the rest of his life that that they would never live with that prospect.

He squeezes her hand. “For some things,” he answers. She returns his smile and looks down at their hands with a hesitant expression on her face. “What is it?” he asks.

She draws a heavy sigh. “I’m just going to miss this place.”

“Me too.”

Her wistful eyes take in the room, knowing it’ll be the last time. “Where do we go from here?”

“We continue with our mission, just in a different setting.”

“You know what I mean.”

He peers down at those dark irises before reaching to stroke her cheek. And without missing a beat he answers her question. “We go home. I’ll cook us dinner. I’ll make love to you, and repeat that every day and not overthink anything else.”

Her warm hand reaches up for his to kiss the palm of it. “I love you.”

His heart swells at her words. “I love you too. I promise everything will be okay. I’m not going anywhere,” he promises, shoving the memory of the last time he ran to the far corners of his mind. He has a new outlook all thanks to the love of his life.

Mass General had offered her a job she was considering, as well as some hospitals in California, her home state, but there was no doubt she considered Massachusetts her new one. While her family was in California, her new home was here, and she wasn’t going anywhere.

He didn’t know what he would do, but what he _was_ sure of was that he’d stay in Boston to be with her. That was a promise he’d made.

“I know. I guess I’m just scared of the unknown.”

“I know the future can be daunting to think about, but you always persevere, Luz. You’re a hell of a doctor and an extraordinary person. I’ll stand by your side and support you in whatever it is you decide.”

Her wary expression softens as she stares into his shining blue eyes. “What would I do without you?”

“No. The real question is, what would I do without _you_?”

She chuckles softly and reaches up to claim his mouth. He responds to it with fervor. After indulging in a short, sweet moment, they finally break the kiss to have one last look at their beloved hospital.

After a last silent goodbye, they step through the doors hand in hand. The future is unknown. It always is. But they walk away knowing they’ll tread through it side by side.


End file.
